Ramon Barros Luco

José Ramón Barros Luco (June 9, 1835, Santiago - September 20, 1919) was a Chilean lawyer and politician, member of the Liberal Party. (PL), which he presided over in 1903. He was also President of the Republic between 1910 and 1915.

Having developed a long political career as Minister of State under Presidents Federico Errázuriz Zañartu, Domingo Santa María, José Manuel Balmaceda, Jorge Montt and Germán Riesco, and parliamentarian, Barros Luco was elected president in 1910 with the support of all matches. During his government, the ministerial rotation was accentuated, reaching 15 cabinets. He tried to combat the excesses of the parliamentary regime, modifying the system for closing the debate and establishing laws against electoral fraud.

He defined the neutrality of Chile in the face of the First World War and took measures against the economic difficulties caused by the closure of European markets. He signed the ABC Pact with Argentina and Brazil as a way to counteract US influence in the region. During his tenure, relevant public works were carried out, highlighting the Arica-La Paz railway and the current building of the National Library of Chile.

Skeptical with regard to political action and good-natured, his historical figure is remembered in the collective memory by the countless anecdotes attributed to him.

Early Years

He was the son of Ramón Luis Barros Fernández de Leiva and Dolores Luco Fernández de Leiva, being the eldest of five siblings. He is also a cousin of the historian Diego Barros Arana. Of aristocratic but poor origin, he worked for several years as a grocer, castrating cattle in the slaughterhouse and singing romances from Italian operas in gatherings and sarambos, while studying law. He did his professional practice in the studio of Manuel Carvallo and graduated as a lawyer in 1858. His trial memoir was entitled "The Importance of a Rural Code," which was later translated into French.

Since the legal profession did not bring him much income, he accepted the help of a relative to enter the public administration, as a senior officer of the Ministry of the Interior.

Political career

Ramón Barros Luco in his youth.

His first political performance was the publication of a series of articles in “El Ferrocarril” defending the loans that President Manuel Montt requested to build railways. In gratitude, Montt would make him elect substitute deputy for Casablanca in 1861. On May 31, 1864, he was appointed subdelegate of the 1st Subdelegation of Puente de Madera, department of Santiago. He adhered to President José Joaquín Pérez, whom he elected as role model in his political life. As Minister Manuel Antonio Tocornal forgot to make him elect a deputy in the parliamentary elections of 1864, he was left out of the Chamber, but he was again elected deputy for Caldera in 1867. A liberal militant, he would later be elected representative of Curicó (1870-1873), Valparaíso (1873-1876 and 1888-1891), Santiago (1876-1879, 1879-1882, 1882-1885 and 1891-1894) and Parral (1885-1888). Later he was elected senator for Tarapacá (1891-1897) and for Linares (1900-1906).

He was minister sixteen times, head of the Treasury and the Interior ten times and deputy of War and Navy, Justice, Worship and Public Instruction and Treasury another six. His first ministry, under Federico Errázuriz Zañartu, was due to the fact that he, in need of a finance minister promptly, proclaimed "Well, anyone who passes by on the street will be a minister!" and when he opened the window he saw the senior officer of the Ministry of the Interior, Ramón Barros Luco, crossing the patio.

As minister of Errázuriz, he organized the International Exposition of 1875, revised the agricultural tax, issued a customs ordinance, and founded the Agricultural Institute. When he was Minister of Domingo Santa María, he contracted a loan to pay off the onerous loan of 1866 and concerned himself with the law on the formation of budgets and investment accounts. He became Minister of the Interior when José Manuel Balmaceda announced his presidential candidacy, but since Barros Luco was in favor of a liberal convention with nationals, radicals, and independent liberals, and without wanting to direct Balmaceda's candidacy from the ministry, he resigned from his position.

He was also Minister of the Interior and later of Industry during the government of Balmaceda. During his management, the Superior Council of Public Hygiene was created, a new Mining Code was promulgated, and a National Exposition in preparation for the Universal Exhibition in Paris was inaugurated in Santiago.

He was Director of Banco de Chile, president of Cía. de Crédito y Construcciones, president of the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril, director of the Caja de Ahorros de Santiago and the Caja de Crédito Hipotecario.

Board of Government of Chile during the Civil War of 1891. Barros Luco, sitting right.

In his capacity as president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1891, he signed the act of impeachment of the President of the Republic José Manuel Balmaceda drawn up by Congress, and promoted the uprising of the National Navy, whose actions he directed —together with Waldo Silva, vice president of the Senate—until the Iquique Governing Board was established, of which he was also a member. On April 22, he was aboard the armored car Blanco Encalada when it was torpedoed by government ships. It was said, despite the fact that he always denied it and that gossip bothered him that he had grabbed the tail of a cow during the shipwreck to save his life. After the revolution triumphed, he resumed his duties as parliamentarian and served as minister on several occasions.

During the government of Jorge Montt he was Minister of the Interior, managing to enact the future metallic conversion of the banknote into law. He had to take action against the attempted uprising by the defeated Balmacedistas, suspending for nine months individual guarantees for certain crimes and release on bail. These measures were considered too soft and he was replaced in the ministry by Pedro Montt.

He was Minister Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Chile in France between 1897 and 1900, and held the same position before Switzerland and the Holy See between 1898 and 1900.

During those years he married Mercedes Valdés, from whom he had no children. Faced with doubts as to why he married her and not his more graceful sister who had recently been widowed, owner of a significant fortune, he replied that "At my years, I prefer to be a surprise for a single woman rather than a disappointment for a widow.".

He was Minister of the Interior under Germán Riesco and replaced him in command between April and June 1903 as Vice President of the Republic, organizing a cabinet with the Coalition and integrating conservative ministers for the first time in the five-year period. During this period, violent events occurred due to a stevedores' strike in Valparaíso, which resulted in six deaths and several injuries.

In 1910, given the existing tensions between the Liberals and the Nationalists to choose a presidential candidate, he was appointed postulant of the sector. Upon assuming his candidacy, he improvised a speech, saying that in that same place, Germán Riesco had declared that his government would not be a threat to anyone and that he replaced that formula by saying that his administration would be a guarantee for everyone. All sectors adhered to his candidacy, including the conservatives, for which he was unanimously elected.

Government

Internal Policy

Third ministry of Barros Luco, from August 1911 to January 1912.

Cabinet from June to November 1913. Manuel Rivas Vicuña Interior Minister and Arturo Alessandri of Hacienda.

Cabinet from September to December 1914. Guillermo Barros Jara (right seated) Minister of the Interior.

Although Barros Luco's candidacy had been by consensus, after the election divisions arose between the parties. For this reason, his first cabinet was made up only of doctrinaire liberals, headed by Maximiliano Ibáñez, who was criticized for his one-party composition, for which he resigned a few days after taking office.

He formed a new cabinet, this time headed by Rafael Orrego. This cabinet lasted seven months, since his program did not represent a threat to anyone. The formation of a political alliance between Liberal Democrats, Nationalists, Conservatives and Democrats, with a majority in Parliament, caused a new ministerial crisis. On August 15, 1911, a new cabinet was formed with the Coalition parties, with the exception of the democrats, headed by the conservative José Ramón Gutiérrez Martínez. Gutiérrez resigned on January 6, 1912, due to constant attacks from the opposition, replaced by Abraham Ovalle.

The opposition began a policy of obstructionism, led by the doctrinaire deputies Luis Izquierdo and Maximiliano Ibáñez. Although they were a minority in Congress, they managed to paralyze bills with long speaking marathons. They wanted to change the cabinet for fear that it would interfere in the parliamentary elections. Despite this, the Cabinet fell as a result of internal divisions, since the nationals were not satisfied with the Coalition.

A universal cabinet was formed with all the parties headed by Ismael Tocornal. The elections, characterized by corruption and electoral bribery carried out by the parties through the municipalities, represented a victory for the liberal democrats, also obtaining a good result liberals and democrats. Instead, the nationals were the biggest losers.

The leader of the balmacedistas, Juan Luis Sanfuentes, in view of the electoral victory, had enough power to organize the following ministries. A Liberal Concentration was formed, of liberals and balmacedistas, with the support of the conservatives, the which formed a ministry on May 20, 1912, with Guillermo Rivera in Interior.

The Cabinet lasted two and a half months until its fall, caused by an interpellation regarding a railway contract. The new cabinet, formed on August 8 and led by Guillermo Barros Jara, followed the same previous combination, but included Manuel Rivas Vicuña in the Treasury, a young Liberal deputy who was emerging as the right arm of the President and rival of Sanfuentes. On January 13, 1913, changes were made in the cabinet, although Barros Jara continued in the Interior and with the same political balance.

The Ministry had a crisis as a result of the return to the country of the Internuncio Monsignor Enrique Sibilia, who was the object of ridicule by university students, which provoked angry doctrinal debates in Congress. On June 16, a new ministry headed by Manuel Rivas Vicuña was formed. The cabinet made an effort to solve the bankruptcy of the Banco de la República, to promote some public works and in the electoral reform.

President Barros Luco was disillusioned by the constant ministerial crises and spoke of the possibility of resigning. The struggle between Rivas Vicuña, who was looking for a universal cabinet, and Sanfuentes, contrary to this idea, ended in an agreement and a cabinet for all parties, headed by Rafael Orrego.

Before the outbreak of the First World War, the Cabinet managed to approve laws on export duties, loans to nitrate workers, transfer of funds placed abroad and others, which managed to mitigate the effects of the conflict. Although the cabinet lasted ten months, it had a rocky existence.

Sanfuentes was able to impose a new cabinet, led by Eduardo Charme, who was sworn in on September 6, but it only held office for eight days. After that, Rivas Vicuña was able to put together a universal cabinet, headed by Guillermo Barros Jara.

Sanfuentes later managed to form an alliance between balmacedistas, conservatives and nationals, causing a crisis in the cabinet and swearing in a new one on December 17, 1914, headed by Pedro Nicolás Montenegro. The Cabinet intervened in the parliamentary elections of 1915, especially to prevent the election of Arturo Alessandri as senator in Tarapacá. This led to a duel between Alessandri and Montenegro, which ended without injuries but without reconciliation.

After the parliamentary elections, the president replaced the Minister of the Interior with Enrique A. Rodríguez, but even with the change he did not prevent the fall of the ministry in just over a week. A Cabinet headed by Enrique Villegas Echilburú was formed, who, although a coalitionist, tried to maintain neutrality in the presidential elections.

Eight days before handing over the command, the cabinet resigned to release Ramón Barros Luco, who wanted to hand over the command with a cabinet headed by his nephew Guillermo Barros Jara, who was sworn in on December 15.

Economy

Ramón Barros Luco inaugurating an exhibition of the National Society of Agriculture.

The greatest economic challenge Chile faced in the period was the outbreak of World War I. The war had an economic impact as a result of the closure of some of the main markets for Chilean nitrate, Germany, Belgium and northern France, which led to the closure of offices and a significant drop in prices. The Government reacted by organizing common pots, maritime mobilization for the unemployed to return to the center of the country and with the creation of public works. Law No. 2,918 on Nitrate Aid was enacted, granting loans and advances to nitrate companies that did not stop their production.

The nitrate market normalized in the following years as the explosives industry replaced the place of lost European customers and as the United States became more important as a buyer.

For its part, copper production reached the highest levels reached up to then, producing 52,000 tons in 1915, as a result of the investment of technology and American capital in the industry.

Exports of livestock, food, and coal were restricted.

Regarding the banking system, in 1912 the Caja de Emisión law was approved, which provided national or foreign banks established in Chile with legal tender bills, in the fixed proportion of one peso for every twelve pence, instead of the gold deposits they made in the Fiscal Treasury of Santiago or in the Chilean Treasury in London. At the outbreak of the war, to avoid a banking and financial crisis, the government took the following measures: it suspended the alleged metallic conversion until 1917; deposited 1,000,000 gold pounds in three Chilean banks, who endorsed the deposits to the Treasury as collateral to obtain new fiscal bills from the Caja de Emisión; the issuance of compulsory treasury securities was authorized; All bills that matured in August were extended for thirty days.

During the period, the tendency to collect more internal taxes also increased. The Customs and Internal Revenue services were reorganized, the printing of valued species began, the inheritance tax was restored, physical goods with municipal tax paid an extra tax for the benefit of the treasury and export duties were recharged of the borates.

During this term, Chile reached its peak of relative wealth, coming to represent just over 50% of the per capita GDP of the United States. However, at the same time, Chile had its highest level of social inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.655 in 1913.

Foreign Relations

Ramón Barros Luco accompanied by the chancellors of the countries of the ABC Pact.

In the international arena, on May 25, 1915, the ABC Pact was signed, which was an attempt to counteract US influence in the area and establish a balance and consultation mechanisms between the three signatory countries. The official name was the Non-Aggression, Consultation and Arbitration Pact.

With Peru, a resolution of the conflict over Tacna and Arica was sought through the celebration of the Huneeus-Varela protocol in November 1912. This proclaimed the desire to resume diplomatic relations and postpone the plebiscite until 1933. Internal events of Peruvian politics prevented the signing of the protocol.

During his government, the First World War broke out. The President described his conception of the war and the position that Chile should take as follows:

War's gonna be too long. It can only end by the destruction of British or Germanic influence. France will be the victim. Only the United States can end the conflict. It is up to us to continue the competition between Germany and Great Britain, that neither one nor another should be destroyed. We must desire peace and remain neutral.

In the long term, the world war would have serious consequences, because although the price of nitrate increased due to European demand, the limitation of nitrate exports to Germany would mean that, in addition to losing a market, Chile would lose its natural monopoly due to the creation of synthetic nitrate, which would mean the beginning of the decline of the nitrate industry.

Works of his government

Building of the Faculty of Engineering built during the government of Barros Luco.

A modification to the closing system of the debate was approved in 1912, making it easier, although even if a considerable group came together they could delay it.

Electoral corruption by political parties reached alarming levels, which is why laws against fraud were approved in 1914 and 1915, as well as a reform of the municipal system, which managed to eliminate the falsification of results as an element of transcendence in the elections. These reforms put an end to permanent electoral registers, which would be renewed every nine years, and municipal control of the vote, which would henceforth correspond to special taxpayer boards.

Work began on the port of San Antonio and works on roads, bridges, drinking water, and sewerage.

The Engineering School, the Historical Museum, the National Archive, the Aviation School and the Arica-La Paz Railway were built. In 1911, and due to the great cattle activity in southern Chile, he founded the city from Puerto Natales, which a century later will have its development thanks to the tourism of the Chilean-Argentine Patagonia.

On June 1, 1913, he founded the José Victorino Lastarria High School and in August work began on the new National Library building, which began operating in 1918.

Ministers of State

Ramón Barros Luco after the transmission of the presidential command (1915).

Ramon Barros Luco.

Death

After leaving the presidency, Barros Luco retired to his house on Santo Domingo street at the corner of Las Claras (now Mac Iver). He dedicated himself to the construction of the Mixed Hospital to which his name was later placed. He left 50,000 pesos for the National Children's Trust and the same amount for the Children's Protective League. He passed away at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 20, 1919.

Political Thought

Caricature comparing his performance in the Civil War during the sinking of the Encalada White and its way of governing.

At a banquet where Barros Luco was sitting with Monsignor González Eyzaguirre, the future president gave him some advice,

"that when I find difficulties, do not try to precipitate the solution. 95 percent of the difficulties are solved alone, if you don't lose them."

This sentence characterizes his famous skepticism and has been disseminated through various versions.

On one occasion he had the opportunity to summarize his political thoughts to his minister and friend Manuel Rivas Vicuña:

“Policy is the art of everything possible. You need to do what you can, without delay waiting to get an ideal for the impossible time. Advance, always advance, at the speed that allows the state of the way, so, little by little, but surely we will approach to the end that we pursue. Policy never recognizes effort but success. (...) And finally, you never seek logic in politics because it does not exist. ”

During his tenure, Barros Luco fostered a policy of granting the Chief of Staff broad powers, almost as head of government, reserving the president a general guardianship. Every time a ministry was overthrown, he called the author or a defender of the vote of no confidence and called on him to form a government. These circumstances led to a high ministerial rotation.

Personality

Caricature of Ramón Barros Luco, by Pug (1905).

With a narrow stature, wide backs, clear forehead, quiet and seemingly anodine look, shaved beard, sloppy and bare mustache, in his 76 years, covered his lips as a short curtain ready to rise with pause to give way to his multiple similar occurrences for many with the wisdom of Perogrullo.

Leopoldo Castedo, op. cit., pp. 205

Barros Luco was a man of varied interests: law, administration, finance, agriculture, and charity. Along with leaving a large fortune to charity, he founded the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia. In many of his speeches as a parliamentarian he had stressed the social question.In 1888 he had presented the first project of rooms for workers.

His solid bureaucratic training made him tend towards quick, simple and verbal solutions. It was said in this regard that his greatest quality was "short speaking and short writing".

In Parliament, Barros Luco gained fame for his brief, quick and synthetic answers, which with touches of humor and irony ended the most heated discussions. A deputy asked him, being Barros Luco minister, the amount of the public debt, he answered with an approximate figure. The deputy attacked him for the inaccuracy and corrected the figure, to which the minister replied "And if he knew, why ask?" On another occasion a congressman accused the increase in the price of potatoes to five cents, inaccuracy to which Barros Luco responded "These potatoes will be very large, Senator" (playing with the meaning of "potato" as a lie in vulgar language). Such laughter was produced in the room that the senator was unable to continue his speech.

Of those events, the most remembered was the one that involved Malaquías Concha. Barros Luco was Vice President, and in order to instill fear in him, the Democratic boss announced that a real battle was being waged in the town of Hualqui between the police and the workers. Barros Luco, already alerted to the situation, replied: “And who is winning? The government must maintain order.” The disputes in Parliament between Barros Luco and Malaquías Concha was one of the possible reasons why he never included the Democratic Party in his cabinets. When the organizer of a ministry explained the advisability of naming Concha as minister, Barros Luco excused himself by saying: “No, it can't be! the Democratic Party has no world.”

He applied the same spirit in international politics. The Argentine ambassador asked him for a statement on the communication and trade agreements, telling him that a statement from him, as vice president, would be very well received in his government and would prevent hostile demonstrations on his return trip through Mendoza. To this, Barros Luco responded: "Look, Minister, why don't you go through the Strait of Magellan?" That way no one will bother you." When bidding farewell to the Chilean delegates to an international conference, he reportedly gave them the following instructions: "Sign all you want there; soon we will see here if we can ratify".

His contemporaries and historians describe Barros Luco as a man without vanity, who dressed and acted with great simplicity. Despite his fortune, he traveled by train and tram like any other citizen and he used to sit with his wife on any street bench, like a couple of retirees.

Ramón Barros Luco is also known for the famous meat and cheese sandwich, the Barros Luco. Stories vary, but the most popular and accepted tells that Barros Luco frequently ate a meat and cheese sandwich for lunch, so much so that they named the simple dish after him. Today, it is one of the most popular dishes throughout Chile.